CoreWeave vs Modal: GPU Cloud Compute Pricing (2026)
Compare / CoreWeave vs Modal
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Team size
25 seats

CoreWeave vs Modal

AI/GPU Cloud Compute pricing comparison · 2026

CoreWeave pricing ranges from $6.27–$68.8/instance/hour, while Modal ranges from $0–$250/GPU/hour. These products use different pricing models (Per-seat subscription vs Usage-based (pay per token/image/minute)), so a direct price comparison isn't meaningful — costs depend on usage volume and mix.

Visit
See pricing on each vendor's site
Above-the-fold path — each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit CoreWeave pricing
Discount programs →
Visit Modal pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
Compare
2 products · AI/GPU Cloud Compute
Side-by-side · live
CoreWeave
CoreWeave is a specialized GPU cloud provider offering four compute tiers — On-Demand (1x
verified 3mo ago
View pricing →
Modal
Modal is a serverless compute platform that lets Python developers run GPU and CPU workloa
verified 7w ago
View pricing →
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Pricing model unknown
Pricing model unknown
no public list price found
Usage-based
$0.001972 per second
see vendor pricing for volume tiers
What buyers actually pay
median, annual
Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.
Median annual
$726/yr
Vendr · n=34
No Vendr data
—
Not in Vendr's deal flow
REF · 01

Sources & confidence

Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.

Where this data comes from
Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs
Sources 11 sourced facts
8 hidden-cost · 2 contract · Vendr median
Last verified 3mo ago
Confidence Limited confidence
Sources 13 sourced facts
11 hidden-cost · 1 contract · 1 review platform
Last verified 1mo ago
Confidence High confidence
REF · 02

Plans at a glance

Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.

Tier ladder
Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.
REF · 03

Hidden costs

Each cost is severity-ranked, with the dollar range quoted from its source (Vendr, Reddit, TrustRadius, BBB, official docs) — never our estimate.

Beyond the sticker
Severity-ranked, sourced
5 documented
  • Enterprise-Only Onboarding Friction
    5-15% of license costs
    1 source
  • Reserved Contract Lock-In Risk
    15-40% of license costs
    2 sources
  • On-Demand GPU Availability Constraints
    5-20% of license costs
    2 sources
  • Vendor Lock-In via Proprietary Software Stack
    10-25% of license costs
    2 sources
  • Reduced Attention for Smaller Customers
    5-10% of license costs
    1 source
5 documented
  • GPU Compute Costs Billed on Top of Plan Fee
    $2-$72/hr per GPU
    3 sources
  • DIY Configuration Overhead and Cold Start Latency
    5-15% of license costs
    1 source
  • DIY Infrastructure Overhead: vLLM Configuration and Cold Starts
    10-25% of license costs
    1 source
  • Billing Cycle Spend Limits Blocking Service Access
    5-15% of license costs
    1 source
  • Account Locked When Outstanding Balance Exists
    5-15% of license costs
    1 source
REF · 04

Contract terms

The fine print, surfaced. Green = buyer-friendly. Each clause backed by a quoted source.

CoreWeave
Modal
Auto-renewal
—
Yes
Cancellation
—
—
Commitment
Long-term reserved contracts standard for enterprise customers; on-demand and spot available without commitment
—
Price escalation
GPU compute pricing facing downward pressure industry-wide as supply normalizes; older GPU models (H100) seeing pricing pressure as Blackwell hardware arrives
No published schedule
Can downgrade
—
—
Based on 3 verified sources (Vendr · TrustRadius · BBB)
REF · 05

What users say

Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.

User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
No public ratings yet
Best for
Large-scale AI training
Watch out
No self-serve onboarding — requires meeting request and account manager approval
Trustpilot
1.4out of 5 (5)
Best for
Individual developers and small teams getting started with serverless GPU compute
Watch out
Billing cycle spend limits triggered at negligible spend amounts ($0.01), blocking service access
Decide
Get a quote from each vendor
Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
Visit CoreWeave pricing
Discount programs →
Visit Modal pricing
Free plan limits → Discount programs →
License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats). Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges. Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.
AI/GPU Cloud Compute

CoreWeave

$6.27–$68.8
/instance/hour
4 plans
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
AI/GPU Cloud Compute

Modal

$0–$250
/GPU/hour
3 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
⚖

Different Pricing Models

Direct price comparison isn't meaningful here — CoreWeave uses Per-seat subscription pricing while Modal uses Usage-based (pay per token/image/minute) pricing. Your actual cost will depend on usage volume, team size, or both. Here's each product in its native unit.

Per-seat subscription

CoreWeave

$6.27–$68.8 / instance/hour
See full CoreWeave pricing →
vs
Usage-based (pay per token/image/minute)

Modal

From $0.00000222 per second
See full Modal pricing →

CoreWeave and Modal are both gpu cloud compute competitors. This page compares their list pricing tier by tier so you can see which is cheaper for your workload shape.

Plan-by-Plan Pricing

Plan CoreWeave Modal
On-Demand (8x GPU) Custom Free /month
On-Demand (1x GPU) Custom $250 /month
Spot Custom Custom
Reserved Custom —

Hidden Costs

Beyond the sticker price — what catches buyers off guard.

CoreWeave 5 hidden costs

medium
Enterprise-Only Onboarding Friction 5-15% of license costs
high
Reserved Contract Lock-In Risk 15-40% of license costs
medium
On-Demand GPU Availability Constraints 5-20% of license costs
medium
Vendor Lock-In via Proprietary Software Stack 10-25% of license costs
low
Reduced Attention for Smaller Customers 5-10% of license costs
See all CoreWeave hidden costs →

Modal 10 hidden costs

high
GPU Compute Costs Billed on Top of Plan Fee $2-$72/hr per GPU
medium
DIY Configuration Overhead and Cold Start Latency 5-15% of license costs
medium
DIY Infrastructure Overhead: vLLM Configuration and Cold Starts 10-25% of license costs
high
Billing Cycle Spend Limits Blocking Service Access 5-15% of license costs
medium
Account Locked When Outstanding Balance Exists 5-15% of license costs
See all Modal hidden costs →

Contract Terms

Term CoreWeave Modal
Auto-renewal — Yes
Cancellation — —
Minimum commitment Long-term reserved contracts standard for enterprise customers; on-demand and spot available without commitment —
Price escalation GPU compute pricing facing downward pressure industry-wide as supply normalizes; older GPU models (H100) seeing pricing pressure as Blackwell hardware arrives No published schedule

Continue researching

CoreWeave

Modal

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